The Disowned is a novel by the British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton, originally published in three volumes.

[1] It is part of the then-popular genre of silver fork novels, focusing on British high society of the late Regency era.

[2] It is set in the late eighteenth century but the political and social themes it refers to have more relevance to the contemporary 1820s.

Algernon Mordaunt is disinherited by his family after marrying the penniless orphan Isabel St Leger and never recovers from the separation.

By contrast Clarence Linden, from an aristocratic background, manages to carve a life for himself among the middle classes of London and eventually marries an heiress.